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THE ESSEX NATURALIST
rule the earth? If we have our way, there will be an end to
Natural Selection as a means of engendering new species. If we
interpret conservation as maintaining the ecological status quo
of the 19th century, then we remove one of the peak incentives
to evolution—namely the challenge of a changing environment.
Any change in species would be confined to those brought about
by the plant and animal breeder, and this hardly involves
Natural Selection, since such breeding is man-directed and
orientated to man's comfort.
On these grounds alone, conservation cannot mean preserving
things exactly as they are. Nor is it likely that such preserva-
tion could be accomplished on a global scale. Can it indeed be
done at all? The various bodies concerned with conservation
set up two different kinds of reserve, with perhaps some over-
lap of purpose. One, the kind of reserve intended to keep going
a particular type of habitat, say woodland, or heath, and two, the
kind of reserve intended to provide sanctuary for one or more
species of animal or plant threatened with extinction.
Let us look at the second of these first. Is it right to attempt
to maintain a rare species in existence? If there had been a
conservationist on this planet since the creation of life, who by
some means had managed to preserve a breeding colony of every
species that had ever existed, where on earth would he put
them? So some sort of selection would have to be made. This
indeed, I maintain, is what we are doing. We elect to save the
grey seal, the blue whale, the Bengal tiger, and What's-his-name's
gazelle, but how many will lift a finger to save a rare spider?
More money, and time and effort are given to saving certain
classes of animals because we like them. Spiders, on the other
hand, are still "nasty creepy-crawlies" in the eyes of the. public,
and, I'm sorry to say the attitude is fostered by the BBC and ITV
In fact, so bird-orientated is our particular society, that the term
"naturalist" is syonymous with "bird-watcher" in the minds of
the public and the broadcasting authorities.
But, it is not my place to probe the sociology of this
phenomenon. We do tend to set a value on rarity, be it rare
coins, stamps, works of art, or living species. I have been dragged
miles on foot across soggy fields in the pouring rain to see
Ophioglossum vulgatum. And for why? Because it is rare.
Maybe it is rare in Essex, but Clapham, Tutin and Warburg give
its distribution as from Iceland, S.E. Norway, northern Russia to
central Spain and Portugal, Corsica, Sicily, Macedonia, the
Caucasus, Madeira, Azores, North and West Asia, east to
Kamchatka, south to Lebanon, North Africa; North America from
Prince Edward Isles to Alaska, south to Florida and Washington.
In fact, nearly everywhere in the world except Essex. Does its
absence from this county make it more attractive? Before
waxing emotional over this, let us examine some of the causes of
rarity. This may lead us into useful avenues of thought.